One man's journey to financial independence.

With the markets recent volatility, some readers have asked that I share an update on my options activity. I continue selling puts against companies I want to own more of and using proceeds to purchase more shares of these companies.

Below are all my trades since July of last year:

Date

Action

Ticker

Expiration

Strike

Call/Put

Qty

Price

Net

close Price

closeout

Days to Exp

7/6/2017

Sell

MO

1/18/2019

90

Put

1

$19.00

$1,894.55

28.5

-$955.45

315

7/6/2017

Sell

MO

9/21/2018

75

Call

1

$5.15

$509.55

8/11/2017

BTC

MO

9/21/2018

75

Call

1

-$2.12

-$217.45

$292.10

7/6/2017

Sell

BDX

1/19/2018

210

Put

1

$18.00

$1,794.55

12/1/2017

BTC

BDX

1/19/2018

210

Put

1

-$1.38

-$143.45

$1,651.10

7/6/2017

Sell

MDT

6/15/2018

97.5

Put

1

$11.25

$1,119.55

11.25

-$5.45

98

7/6/2017

Sell

JNJ

6/15/2018

150

Put

1

$19.50

$1,944.55

20.66

-$121.45

98

7/20/2017

Sell

V

6/15/2018

115

Put

1

$17.50

$1,744.55

2/20/2018

BTC

V

6/15/2018

115

Put

1

-$2.89

-$294.45

$1,450.10

7/20/2017

Sell

V

1/18/2019

130

Put

1

$31.75

$3,169.55

13.45

$1,824.55

315

8/10/2017

Sell

ESV

1/18/2019

15

Put

2

$10.50

$2,094.55

3/3/2017

Assigned

ESV

4.55

-$4.55

8/9/2017

Sell

Teva

1/18/2019

37.5

Put

1

$19.30

$1,924.55

1/18/2018

BTC

Teva

1/18/2019

37.5

Put

1

-$17.00

-$1,705.45

$219.10

8/9/2017

Sell

Teva

1/18/2019

30

Put

1

$12.20

$1,214.55

3/6/2018

BTC

Teva

1/18/2019

30

Put

1

-$11.00

-$1,105.45

$109.10

8/10/2017

Bought

Teva

9/1/2017

17

Call

2

-$1.28

-$261.45

-$261.45

8/10/2017

Bought

Teva

9/15/2017

17.5

Call

5

-$1.37

-$690.45

9/12/2017

STC

Teva

9/15/2017

17.5

Call

5

$2.29

$1,139.55

2.29

$449.10

8/8/2017

Sell

GIS

1/18/2019

67.5

Put

1

$12.30

$1,224.55

11.2

$104.55

315

10/19/2017

Sell

GIS

1/18/2019

67.5

Put

1

$16.90

$1,684.55

11.2

$564.55

315

8/2/2017

Sell

MO

9/21/2018

80

Put

1

$17.50

$1,744.55

12

$544.55

196

9/7/2017

Sell

MO

1/18/2019

90

Put

1

$28.50

$2,844.55

28.5

-$5.45

315

10/17/2017

Sell

V

12/20/2019

160

Put

1

$52.52

$5,246.55

44

$846.55

651

10/25/2017

Sell

T

9/21/2018

40

Put

2

$7.30

$1,454.55

4.65

$524.55

196

10/26/2017

Sell

BBL

6/15/2018

35

Put

1

$2.55

$249.55

2/28/2018

BTC

BBL

6/15/2018

35

Put

1

-$0.66

-$71.45

$178.10

10/30/2017

Sell

CVS

1/19/2018

80

Put

1

$11.90

$1,184.55

1/8/2018

BTC

CVS

1/19/2018

80

Put

1

-$2.40

-$245.45

$939.10

12/11/2017

Sell

CVS

1/18/2019

77.5

Put

1

$10.42

$1,036.55

11.75

-$138.45

315

1/8/2018

Sell

CVS

5/18/2018

82.5

Put

1

$7.30

$724.55

13.33

-$608.45

70

10/31/2017

Sell

OHI

6/15/2018

29

Put

1

$2.50

$244.55

12/18/2017

BTC

OHI

6/15/2018

29

Put

1

-$2.45

-$250.45

-$5.90

11/13/2017

Sell

HBI

1/18/2019

20

Put

1

$3.00

$294.55

2.6

$34.55

315

11/14/2017

Sell

WMT

3/16/2018

100

Put

1

$10.85

$1,079.55

02/20/18

BTC

WMT

3/16/2018

100

Put

1

-$5.97

-$602.45

$477.10

12/01/17

Sell

BDX

3/16/2018

230

Put

1

$10.93

$1,087.55

01/30/18

BTC

BDX

3/16/2018

230

Put

1

-$3.00

-$305.45

$782.10

12/01/17

Sell

Teva

1/18/2019

32.5

Put

3

$17.20

$5,154.55

3/6/18

BTC

Teva

1/18/2019

32.5

Put

3

-$12.33

-$3,704.45

$1,450.10

12/11/17

Sell

RDSB

7/20/2018

60

Call

1

$6.34

$628.55

12

-$571.45

133

12/15/17

Sell

PG

9/21/2018

92.5

Put

1

$5.20

$514.55

14.05

-$890.45

196

12/15/17

Sell

GE

9/21/2018

18

Put

3

$1.64

$486.55

3.6

-$593.45

196

12/15/17

Sell

CHD

7/20/2018

50

Call

1

$2.78

$272.55

2/14/18

BTC

CHD

7/20/2018

50

Call

1

-$2.45

-$250.45

$22.10

12/28/17

Sell

SO

8/17/2018

48

Put

1

$2.75

$269.55

5.15

-$245.45

161

12/28/17

Sell

SO

1/18/2019

50

Put

1

$4.75

$469.55

7.7

-$300.45

315

01/08/18

Sell

WSM

8/17/2018

57.5

Put

1

$7.70

$764.55

7.2

$44.55

161

01/18/18

Sell

BGS

8/17/2018

30

Put

1

$2.50

$244.55

5.6

-$315.45

161

1/18/18

Sell

BGS

8/17/2018

35

Call

1

$1.82

$176.55

2/14

BTC

BGS

8/17/2018

35

Call

1

-$1.60

-$165.45

$11.10

1/19

Sell

IBM

9/21/2018

170

Put

1

$15.65

$1,559.55

17.75

-$215.45

196

1/23/18

Sell

OHI

1/18/2019

30

Call

5

$0.70

$344.55

0.7

-$5.45

315

01/23/18

Sell

T

1/18/2019

40

Call

2

$1.50

$294.55

02/28/18

BTC

T

1/18/2019

40

Call

2

-$1.33

-$271.45

$23.10

02/01/18

Sell

OMI

9/21/2018

17.5

Put

5

$2.20

$1,094.55

2.55

-$180.45

196

02/13/18

Sell

IBM

9/21/2018

150

Put

1

$10.26

$1,020.55

7.45

$275.55

196

02/14/18

Sell

OHI

1/18/2019

25

Put

4

$2.75

$1,094.55

2

$294.55

315

02/16/18

Sell

MO

1/18/2019

85

Put

1

$20.66

$2,060.55

20.66

-$5.45

315

02/20/18

Sell

SLB

9/21/2018

72.5

Put

1

$9.09

$903.55

9.2

-$16.45

196

02/20/18

Sell

CVS

8/17/2018

80

Put

1

$10.57

$1,051.55

13.38

-$286.45

161

03/05/18

Sell

HSY

8/17/2018

105

Put

1

$8.42

$836.55

8.42

-$5.45

161

03/05/18

Sell

ESV

1/18/2019

10

Put

2

$5.40

$1,074.55

5.6

-$45.45

315

03/06/18

Sell

V

1/17/2020

165

Put

1

$43.00

$4,294.55

43

-$5.45

679

03/07/18

Sell

XOM

6/21/2019

80

Put

1

$10.96

$1,090.55

10.96

-$5.45

469

03/08/18

Sell

MO

1/18/2019

75

Put

1

$12.73

$1,267.55

12.84

-$16.45

315

TOTALS

$55,334.75

$7,300.65

Booked

$7,781.50

The last update on trades had generated $46,022 in revenues. I’m approved for “naked” options trading meaning I can sell puts on companies I don’t own and without having the cash to purchase said security. My collateral is owning shares of companies as equity to cover. This update shows I’ve now generated $55,334 in revenues. Most of this money has already been used to purchase more dividend paying stocks. The closeout column is what my total profit will look like if I closed out all trades today. I’ve already closed out quite a few positions, you can see the trades. I’m actually down to $7,300 from $12,000 in the last update with the market corrections. The difference in the revenues and profits is what it would cost me to close out all the trades, about $48,000.

I’ve already booked profits of $7,781.50 on closed trades. Since my booked profits are nearly equal to Total profits, my open trades are neutral right now.

Note: These profits won’t include dividends which I do receive from investing in other dividend paying stocks with the revenue.

Since last update, I’ve made at least 15 trades, you can see the dates on all my trades above.

One of my top trades was closing out a $115 Visa put I sold. I (BTC) bought to close that put and made a net profit of over $1400. Yes, $1400 on 1 single put! I also closed out some TEVA puts for similar gains. My biggest gain to date was a BDX put I closed out for a sweet $1650 net profit!

My V puts continue to be rock solid. I sold an additional V put and quite a few new puts in HSY, MO, IBM, XOM etc. In fact, I used some of these profits to buy an additional 40 shares of V in this account recently.

So what happens in the case that one of these companies is lower near expiration (in the money)? Well, I have a few options.

a. I can do nothing and I’ll be required to purchase 100 shares of said security at the strike price. It’s sort of like I’m buying the company right now at a discount.

b. I can decide to purchase back the put for more money at a loss of approximately (strike – current share value) x 100.

c. Third option is to “roll” the put forward. What this means is that I simultaneously purchase the put back and sell another longer dated put so that I haven’t lost any money.

Any profits will go directly into purchasing more shares of solid dividend-paying companies.

This is just another avenue I’m using to earn additional profits so that I can get this dividend snowball moving faster. I actually just broke the $12,000 forward dividends goal ahead of schedule. I’ll probably be posting about that soon. The extra options income is certainly helping speed up the process. My forward dividends are currently $12,286, up from $11,197 a month ago. My goal by the end of the year is to be at a forward dividend income of $13,000. I’ll need to put to work about $23,800 at a 3% yield which shouldn’t be a tough task.

Best long ideas currently are SQ, V, BRK.B, MO, CVS, DIS to name a few. I’ll be adding more to these companies throughout the year at these prices. Yes I know that SQ and BRK.B don’t pay a dividend, but I’ve decided to have a speculative portfolio that contains non dividend paying stocks up to 10% of the portfolio value for now.

What’s better than receiving dividends every quarter? Well receiving a larger dividend of course!

All 4 of my expected February dividend raisers have increased their dividends.

1.) The Coca-Cola Company (KO) has paid a quarterly dividend since 1920 and has increased dividends in each of the last 55 years! Just like clock-work, KO has increased their dividend on 02/15. This is the third $.02 increase in a row. I’d hope the raises would start being a little higher.

The new dividend is $0.39 from $0.37 (5.4% increase) payable 04/02/18 to shareholders of record as of 03/15/18.

I currently own 91 shares of KO (1.08% weight) and this will increase my yearly dividends by $7.28.

The new dividend is $0.45 from $0.37 (21% increase) payable 03/23/18 to shareholders of record as of 03/12/18.

I currently own 25.29 shares of CRI (0.78% weight) and this will increase my yearly dividends by $8.09.

3.) Gilead Sciences (GILD) announced on 02/06/18 a dividend increase of 10% to $0.57/share quarterly.

The new dividend is $0.57 from $0.52 (10% increase) payable 03/29/18 to shareholders of record as of 03/16/18.

I currently own 94.02 shares of GILD (2.06% weight) and this will increase my yearly dividends by $18.80.

4.) Owen’s & Minor (OMI) on 01/31/18 (yes I know it’s technically January but they usually raise in Feb.) increased their dividend 1% to $0.26 and this marks the 20th consecutive year of increases. Owens & Minor has paid a dividend every years since they became a public company in 1971. However, this was just a token raise to keep the streak alive. The company has been under pressure losing a big customer to CAH and with talks of Amazon entering the market. I recently purchased a full position after the big drop off and shares are yielding well over 6%.

The new dividend is $0.26 from $0.257 (1.2% increase) payable 03/30/18 to shareholders of record as of 03/15/18.

I currently own 602.01 shares of OMI (2.74% weight) and this will increase my yearly dividends by $1.81.

That’s a total of $35.98 in annual increases for just being a loyal shareholder.

Baby AAI is now walking and his portfolio is making some strides as well. He’s not talking yet and has no idea what a portfolio or equity is yet though. That’s perfectly ok because there is lots of time for compounding to work and for me to teach him about investing.

I funded Baby AAI’s account with an initial $7500 in a taxable account and have been contributing $100/week since 02/27/17, so we’re almost at the one year mark.

I made a recent transaction last week and swapped out PEP for a little more of HBI. HBI fell to below his cost basis and I couldn’t resist adding a little more under $20/share. I can always add PEP back later if I wish. So far HBI has been up and PEP has been down so it was a good trade so far. Just to be clear, I don’t plan on doing much “trading”, I plan to mostly buy stocks to hold and let them DRIP. I also added some RDS.B recently.

Below is the current portfolio after a year. Carter’s is killing it from my initial purchase, up over 38%! I actually don’t mind some of these positions staying lower for a while so I can get more shares in the near-term from compounding.

This is still a really short time frame to compare gains and losses. The account is currently valued at $13,448. That’s above my projected amount of $13,225 assuming 7% compounding, see graph below. This portfolio still has a long time to compound and all shares but RDS.B are currently turned on to DRIP. In fact I’ve already added fractional shares of DIS, CRI and HBI by DRIPing.

I’m hoping to achieve a 7% CAGR which will put the balance right at $200,000 by the time he’s 18. That’s by doing nothing else but contributing $100/mo and letting the power of compounding work its magic. I used a simplified actuarial formula assuming $7500 contributed right away and $5200 ($100/month) contributed at the end of each year.

Here’s a graph of what the value should be at the end of each year, of course the stock market has large swings up and down so this is in a perfect world of 7% compounding each year.

So basically, by the end of the first year, February 27, 2018, the portfolio should be valued at $13,225.00. I’m currently slightly ahead of schedule.

Well, the markets are on a tear. This has helped my puts become more profitable. I continue selling puts against companies I want to own more of and using proceeds to purchase more shares of these companies.

Below are all my trades since July of last year:

Date

Action

Ticker

Expiration

Strike

Call/Put

Qty

Price

Net

close Price

closeout

Days to Exp

7/6/2017

Sell

MO

1/18/2019

90

Put

1

$19.00

$1,894.55

28.5

-$955.45

357

7/6/2017

Sell

MO

9/21/2018

75

Call

1

$5.15

$509.55

x

8/11/2017

BTC

MO

9/21/2018

75

Call

1

-$2.12

-$217.45

$292.10

x

7/6/2017

Sell

BDX

1/19/2018

210

Put

1

$18.00

$1,794.55

x

12/1/2017

BTC

BDX

1/19/2018

210

Put

1

-$1.38

-$143.45

$1,651.10

x

7/6/2017

Sell

MDT

6/15/2018

97.5

Put

1

$11.25

$1,119.55

11.25

-$5.45

140

7/6/2017

Sell

JNJ

6/15/2018

150

Put

1

$19.50

$1,944.55

9.05

$1,039.55

140

7/20/2017

Sell

V

6/15/2018

115

Put

1

$17.50

$1,744.55

2.82

$1,462.55

140

7/20/2017

Sell

V

1/18/2019

130

Put

1

$31.75

$3,169.55

12.65

$1,904.55

357

8/10/2017

Sell

ESV

1/18/2019

15

Put

2

$10.50

$2,094.55

8.24

$446.55

357

8/9/2017

Sell

Teva

1/18/2019

37.5

Put

1

$19.30

$1,924.55

x

1/18/2018

BTC

Teva

1/18/2019

37.5

Put

1

-$17.00

-$1,705.45

$219.10

x

8/9/2017

Sell

Teva

1/18/2019

30

Put

1

$12.20

$1,214.55

9.65

$249.55

357

8/10/2017

Bought

Teva

9/1/2017

17

Call

2

-$1.28

-$261.45

-$261.45

x

8/10/2017

Bought

Teva

9/15/2017

17.5

Call

5

-$1.37

-$690.45

x

9/12/2017

STC

Teva

9/15/2017

17.5

Call

5

$2.29

$1,139.55

2.29

$449.10

x

8/8/2017

Sell

GIS

1/18/2019

67.5

Put

1

$12.30

$1,224.55

11.2

$104.55

357

10/19/2017

Sell

GIS

1/18/2019

67.5

Put

1

$16.90

$1,684.55

11.2

$564.55

357

8/2/2017

Sell

MO

9/21/2018

80

Put

1

$17.50

$1,744.55

11.75

$569.55

238

9/7/2017

Sell

MO

1/18/2019

90

Put

1

$28.50

$2,844.55

28.5

-$5.45

357

10/17/2017

Sell

V

12/20/2019

160

Put

1

$52.52

$5,246.55

48

$446.55

693

10/25/2017

Sell

T

9/21/2018

40

Put

2

$7.30

$1,454.55

4.7

$514.55

238

10/26/2017

Sell

BBL

6/15/2018

35

Put

1

$2.55

$249.55

0.4

$209.55

140

10/30/2017

Sell

CVS

1/19/2018

80

Put

1

$11.90

$1,184.55

x

1/8/2018

BTC

CVS

1/19/2018

80

Put

1

-$2.40

-$245.45

$939.10

x

12/11/2017

Sell

CVS

1/18/2019

77.5

Put

1

$10.42

$1,036.55

5.41

$495.55

357

1/8/2018

Sell

CVS

5/18/2018

82.5

Put

1

$7.30

$724.55

4.45

$279.55

112

10/31/2017

Sell

OHI

6/15/2018

29

Put

1

$2.50

$244.55

x

12/18/2017

BTC

OHI

6/15/2018

29

Put

1

-$2.45

-$250.45

-$5.90

x

11/13/2017

Sell

HBI

1/18/2019

20

Put

1

$3.00

$294.55

1.45

$149.55

357

11/14/2017

Sell

WMT

3/16/2018

100

Put

1

$10.85

$1,079.55

4.95

$584.55

49

12/01/17

Sell

BDX

3/16/2018

230

Put

1

$10.93

$1,087.55

2.9

$797.55

49

12/01/17

Sell

Teva

1/18/2019

32.5

Put

3

$17.20

$5,154.55

12

$1,554.55

357

12/11/17

Sell

RDSB

7/20/2018

60

Call

1

$6.34

$628.55

12

-$571.45

175

12/15/17

Sell

PG

9/21/2018

92.5

Put

1

$5.20

$514.55

6.6

-$145.45

238

12/15/17

Sell

GE

9/21/2018

18

Put

3

$1.64

$486.55

2.55

-$278.45

238

12/15/17

Sell

CHD

7/20/2018

50

Call

1

$2.78

$272.55

3.2

-$47.45

175

12/28/17

Sell

SO

8/17/2018

48

Put

1

$2.75

$269.55

5.13

-$243.45

203

12/28/17

Sell

SO

1/18/2019

50

Put

1

$4.75

$469.55

7.7

-$300.45

357

01/08/18

Sell

WSM

8/17/2018

57.5

Put

1

$7.70

$764.55

7.3

$34.55

203

01/18/18

Sell

BGS

8/17/2018

30

Put

1

$2.50

$244.55

2.21

$23.55

203

1/18/18

Sell

BGS

8/17/2018

35

Call

1

$1.82

$176.55

0

$176.55

203

1/19

Sell

IBM

9/21/2018

170

Put

1

$15.65

$1,559.55

13.75

$184.55

238

1/23/18

Sell

OHI

1/18/2019

30

Call

5

$0.70

$344.55

0

$344.55

357

TOTALS

$46,022.20

$12,867.20

The last update on trades had generated $43,419 in revenues. I’m approved for “naked” options trading meaning I can sell puts on companies I don’t own and without having the cash to purchase said security. My collateral is owning shares of companies as equity to cover. This update shows I’ve now generated $46,022 in revenues. About $40,000 of that has already been used to purchase more dividend paying stocks. The closeout column is what my total profit will look like if I closed out all trades today. It’s up to over $12,000 from about $10k in the last update. The difference in the revenues and profits is what it would cost me to close out all the trades, about $33,000, same as last time. I’ve only got a couple of puts expiring in the next couple of months, WMT and BDX. Both are looking to expire worthless at this point meaning I would keep all the premiums(in this case over $2,000).

Note: These profits won’t include dividends which I do receive from investing in other dividend paying stocks with the revenue.

Since last month I’ve only made a few trades. A lot of this is due to the way E*Trade is now looking at maintenance requirements. I haven’t figured out their new formulas yet but I may look for another avenue to start options trading since it doesn’t seem consistent any more.

I purchased 100 shares of BGS and simultaneously sold a call and put. I also sold some OHI calls since I see shares depressed for a while. This extra income will be a nice boost. If shares are called away at $30 , I’d received $30.70 total which is higher than my basis so I’m ok with that. I also closed out a $37.50 Teva put while shares have been on a run, that cost me $1700 for a profit of $219.

My V puts continue to be rock solid. The stock just continues to go up no matter what. I believe shares will continue to beat the market for a while. This is why I’ve sold 3 large deep in the money puts for a nice revenue stream. I’d profit over $3500 from V if I closed the 3 puts I have outstanding. I’ll probably put these profits directly into buying more V shares. I don’t mind going overweight this wonderful company.

So what happens in the case that one of these companies is lower near expiration (in the money)? Well, I have a few options.

a. I can do nothing and I’ll be required to purchase 100 shares of said security at the strike price. It’s sort of like I’m buying the company right now at a discount.

b. I can decide to purchase back the put for more money at a loss of approximately (strike – current share value) x 100.

c. Third option is to “roll” the put forward. What this means is that I simultaneously purchase the put back and sell another longer dated put so that I haven’t lost any money.

Any profits will go directly into purchasing more shares of solid dividend-paying companies.

This is just another avenue I’m using to earn additional profits so that I can get this dividend snowball moving faster. I’m still targeting my next goal of $12,000 ($1,000 a month) in forward dividends by end March. My forward dividends are currently $11,197, up from $10,826 last month. I’ll need to put to work about $27,000 at a 3% yield in the next couple of months. With tax season coming up this might post a challenge but I love challenges. Wish me luck!

First of all, Happy New Year to everyone. I hope everyone had a wonderful 2017. With the markets on a tear, everyone’s portfolio should have some fat gains. However, these are unrealized capital gains and it just makes it that much harder to buy income with these inflated prices.

*i’m writing this from a netbook so I apologize if it’s not formatted as neatly as usual.

Here’s December’s dividends and a look at the entire year of dividends:

What can i say, it was a sold month. Here’s a look at how I did monthly and quarterly for 2017:

Jan ’17

323

Q1’17

1628

Feb ’17

233

Q2’17

2304

Mar ’17

1072

Q3’17

2021

Apr ’17

696

Q4’17

2215

May ’17

427

Q1’18

June ’17

1181

Q2’18

July ’17

395

Q3’18

Aug ’17

294

Q4’18

Sept ’17

1332

Q1’19

Oct ’17

640

Q2’19

Nov ’17

320

Q3’19

Dec ’17

1255

Q4’19

Over the long-term, I want to see that quarterly income is going up. The second quarter is an outlier as I have a once yearly dividend from Novartis of about $280 and I also had a twice yearly dividend from DEO. This was over $340 which caused the higher second quarter dividends. As my dividend portfolio gets larger, I expect this to smooth out and one or two stocks shouldn’t cause this to happen.

Overall a solid year with total dividends of $8,168.

My forward dividend income is currently well over $10k. My forward income increases haven’t kept pace with overall portfolio gains. This is evident by a much lower overall portfolio yield of 2.8%. This is partly due to the big run the market has had and also due to the fact I’m buying more high growth stocks like Visa lately that have lower yields but higher growth.

Dividend goals for 2018:

My 2017 goal was 8k total, I’m shooting for a 40% increase or $11,320 for the year. This will be achieved from putting new capital to work, reinvesting dividends and dividend increases.

My forward dividend goal by the end of 2018 is $13,000 and a total forward passive income of $26,000 with the gap filled in by real estate income.

It feels good to finally be back on track again after a little time off. There’s been lots of changes lately and I’ll update you guys on what’s going on more soon.

Well, the markets are on a tear. This has helped my puts become more profitable. I continue selling puts against companies I want to own more of and using proceeds to purchase more shares of these companies.

Below are all my trades since July of this year:

Date

Action

Ticker

Expiration

Strike

Call/Put

Qty

Price

Net

close Price

closeout

7/6/2017

Sell

MO

1/18/2019

90

Put

1

$19.00

$1,894.55

20.25

-$130.45

7/6/2017

Sell

MO

9/21/2018

75

Call

1

$5.15

$509.55

8/11/2017

BTC

MO

9/21/2018

75

Call

1

-$2.12

-$217.45

$292.10

7/6/2017

Sell

BDX

1/19/2018

210

Put

1

$18.00

$1,794.55

12/1/2017

BTC

BDX

1/19/2018

210

Put

1

-$1.38

-$143.45

$1,651.10

7/6/2017

Sell

MDT

6/15/2018

97.5

Put

1

$11.25

$1,119.55

11.25

-$5.45

7/6/2017

Sell

JNJ

6/15/2018

150

Put

1

$19.50

$1,944.55

10.6

$884.55

7/20/2017

Sell

V

6/15/2018

115

Put

1

$17.50

$1,744.55

6.8

$1,064.55

7/20/2017

Sell

V

1/18/2019

130

Put

1

$31.75

$3,169.55

19.25

$1,244.55

8/10/2017

Sell

ESV

1/18/2019

15

Put

2

$10.50

$2,094.55

9.81

$132.55

8/9/2017

Sell

Teva

1/18/2019

37.5

Put

1

$19.30

$1,924.55

19

$24.55

8/9/2017

Sell

Teva

1/18/2019

30

Put

1

$12.20

$1,214.55

11.8

$34.55

8/10/2017

Bought

Teva

9/1/2017

17

Call

2

-$1.28

-$261.45

-$261.45

8/10/2017

Bought

Teva

9/15/2017

17.5

Call

5

-$1.37

-$690.45

9/12/2017

STC

Teva

9/15/2017

17.5

Call

5

$2.29

$1,139.55

2.29

$449.10

8/8/2017

Sell

GIS

1/18/2019

67.5

Put

1

$12.30

$1,224.55

11.5

$74.55

10/19/2017

Sell

GIS

1/18/2019

67.5

Put

1

$16.90

$1,684.55

11.5

$534.55

8/2/2017

Sell

MO

9/21/2018

80

Put

1

$17.50

$1,744.55

10.6

$684.55

9/7/2017

Sell

MO

1/18/2019

90

Put

1

$28.50

$2,844.55

20.1

$834.55

10/17/2017

Sell

V

12/20/2019

160

Put

1

$52.52

$5,246.55

48.95

$351.55

10/25/2017

Sell

T

9/21/2018

40

Put

2

$7.30

$1,454.55

4.45

$564.55

10/26/2017

Sell

BBL

6/15/2018

35

Put

1

$2.55

$249.55

1.55

$94.55

10/30/2017

Sell

CVS

1/19/2018

80

Put

1

$11.90

$1,184.55

8.85

$299.55

12/11/2017

Sell

CVS

1/18/2019

77.5

Put

1

$10.42

$1,036.55

10.9

-$53.45

10/31/2017

Sell

OHI

6/15/2018

29

Put

1

$2.50

$244.55

12/18/2017

BTC

OHI

6/15/2018

29

Put

1

-$2.45

-$250.45

-$5.90

11/13/2017

Sell

HBI

1/18/2019

20

Put

1

$3.00

$294.55

2.1

$84.55

11/14/2017

Sell

WMT

3/16/2018

100

Put

1

$10.85

$1,079.55

4.95

$584.55

12/01/17

Sell

BDX

3/16/2018

230

Put

1

$10.93

$1,087.55

12.5

-$162.45

12/01/17

Sell

Teva

1/18/2019

32.5

Put

3

$17.20

$5,154.55

14.35

$849.55

12/11/17

Sell

RDSB

7/20/2018

60

Call

1

$6.34

$628.55

6.34

-$5.45

12/15/17

Sell

PG

9/21/2018

92.5

Put

1

$5.20

$514.55

5.2

-$5.45

12/15/17

Sell

GE

9/21/2018

18

Put

3

$1.64

$486.55

1.6

$6.55

12/15/17

Sell

CHD

7/20/2018

50

Call

1

$2.78

$272.55

2.85

-$12.45

TOTALS

$43,419.70

$10,098.70

The last update on trades had generated $26,390 in revenues. I’m approved for “naked” options trading meaning I can sell puts on companies I don’t own and without having the cash to purchase said security. My collateral is owning shares of companies to cover. This update shows I’ve now generated $43,419.70 in revenues. The closeout column is what my total profit will look like if I closed out all trades today. It’s up to over $10,000 from about $1,500 in the last update. The difference in the revenues and profits is what it would cost me to close out all the trades, about $33,000.

Note: These profits won’t include dividends which I do receive from investing in other dividend paying stocks with the revenue.

On 12/01, I closed out my BDX put for a profit of $1651.10. I think this is my single best put option to date. My MO puts are starting to look better than the last update. I still like Altria for the long-term and if I get assigned shares I’ll be ok with it. Teva shares are way up from the bottom and my puts are looking better also.

My V puts continue to rock & roll! V is a wonderful company and I believe shares will continue to beat the market for a while. This is why I’ve sold 3 large deep in the money puts for a nice revenue stream. I’d profit over $2500 from V if I closed the 3 puts I have outstanding. This is up from about $1500 in my last update.

So what happens in the case that one of these companies is lower near expiration (in the money)? Well, I have a few options.

a. I can do nothing and I’ll be required to purchase 100 shares of said security at the strike price. It’s sort of like I’m buying the company right now at a discount.

b. I can decide to purchase back the put for more money at a loss of approximately ($71/share – current share value) x 100.

c. Third option is to “roll” the put forward. What this means is that I simultaneously purchase the put back and sell another longer dated put so that I haven’t lost any money.

Any profits will go directly into purchasing more shares of solid dividend-paying companies.

This is just another avenue I’m using to earn additional profits so that I can get this dividend snowball moving faster. I’m still targeting my next goal of $12,000 ($1,000 a month) in forward dividends by March of 2018. My forward dividends are currently $10,826. I’ll need to put to work about $39,000 at a 3% yield in the next few months. With tax season coming up this might post a challenge but I love challenges. Wish me luck!

Wait just a second! How did you have rental #3 if you didn’t buy another rental property you may ask and what is 3b? Well, ok so here’s what happened.

I decided to call it quits with the restaurant. The building is wonderful but I just decided the restaurant business wasn’t for me. So I sold the business but still retained the building. The tenant I sold the business to didn’t work out and long story short, defaulted on their 3-year lease after just 3 months. Yes, I had to evict them, there’s a first time for everything.

In the meantime I’ve rented the upstairs which is where I was living before I purchased a new home in another town about 30 minutes away. My wife and I are now in a regular home which I think will be better to raise a child in. Anyways, the upstairs is a wonderful 2,000 sq ft , 2 bedrooms 2 1/2 bath property with all real hardwood floors and awesome updates, granite counters, crown molding and custom woodwork throughout, etc. I listed the property for lease on Zillow and had 3 people that wanted it within a week. I realize I may not have asked enough for the property. I have leased the upstairs of the building for $1,200/month on a 1-year lease. The bottom floor is where the restaurant was housed and is currently for lease. I have a few good prospects and hope I can close one before the new year. I need to get this thing cash flowing!

There’s lots of NEW coming in 2018. New house, new job, new income sources, plans for aggressively growing my passive income stream!

I’m in the hole $1,489.87 right now. I plan to have a tenant in the building by January at a rent of $2,000/mo where it’s at least cash flowing. It’s not a high cash flowing property so I currently have the building listed for sale.

The picture is from a trip to Thailand in 2016. I noticed one of the original bloggers I followed had moved to Chiang Mai and figured I’d post a Thailand pic. I’m obviously supporting the local beer!

Baby AAI is only crawling and has little cares in the world besides food, playing and his parents. However he’s got a portfolio that’s compounding for him already. Here’s a look at the first stocks I purchased and how I expect that portfolio to perform until his 18th birthday.

I funded Baby AAI’s account with an initial $7500 and have been contributing $100/week since 02/27/17, so 35 weeks. That’s a total of $11,000 in contributions.

You can see the stocks I have purchased so far are Carters (CRI), Hanes (HBI), Disney (DIS) and Pepsi (PEP).

This is a very short time to start looking at gains and losses. The account is currently valued at $11,105.22. That’s just a 1% increase. However, this portfolio has a long time to compound, all shares are currently turned on to DRIP. You can see I’ve already been able to purchase fractional shares by DRIPing into CRI, DIS and HBI.

So how do I expect this portfolio to perform. Well I did the math for you, and I’m hoping to achieve a 7% growth rate which will put the balance right at $200,000 by the time he’s 18. That’s by doing nothing else but contributing $100/mo and letting the power of compounding work its magic. I used a simplified actuarial formula assuming $7500 contributed right away and $5200 ($100/month) contributed at the end of each year.

Here’s a graph of what the value should be at the end of the year, of course the stock market has large swings up and down so this is in a perfect world of 7% compounding each year.

So basically, by the end of the first year, February 27, 2018, the portfolio should be valued at $13,225.00. My total contributions will be just over $100,000. You will notice that it takes a little over 12 years to reach this $100,000 number and less than 6 year later it doubles.

That’s right, I’ve made it past a huge milestone today of 10,000 in forward dividends. That means my portfolio will pay out over $10,000 in dividends over the next 12 months not counting any additional purchases or increases to dividends.

I had a trigger set up for AT&T when it hit a certain yield put that went off today. I decided to take advantage of weakness and purchased a full-sized position of 200 shares at a cost/share of 34.01. I see a lot of support at this area for AT&T and another .01 dividend increase should happen fairly soon. CFRA, formally S&P Capital IQ, has them rated as a buy with a 12-month target of $42. I see upside potential here and a nearly 6% dividend to boot. I’m happy parking some money here for a while.

Below is from my dividends tab. Now, I don’t post nearly as often as I used to about my trades, and I hope to change that, but I do keep my portfolio and dividend page updated in real-time. I use my google sheet to check my stock values all the time so these pages stay very updated. You can see in red the companies that have already increased their dividend this year with the purple highlights last year’s increase in that month.

You might also notice the dividend weight column. This is an interesting metric I like to look at as well. It might be concerning to some that nearly 30% of my dividend income comes from 3 stocks, MO, OHI and RDS-B. However, these 3 companies only make up 18% of the value of my portfolio. So you can see how the high/low yields can drastically change the dividend weight. For instance, V is currently a 5.79% weight in my portfolio for value but only 1.24% of the dividend weight due to the smaller yield.

How is everyone else doing? My next stop will be $1,000/mo in income or $12,000 year. I hope to hit that mark in the springtime.

The last update on trades had generated $7262 in revenues. I’m approved for “naked” options trading meaning I can sell puts on companies I don’t own and without having the cash to purchase said security. This update shows I’ve generated $26,390 in revenues. The closeout column is what my total profit will look like if I closed out all trades today.

Note: These profits won’t include dividends which I do receive from investing in other dividend paying stocks with the revenue.

My BDX put is killing it, I could close out with nearly a $1300 profit in a short amount of time! The MO puts are killing me though. However, I like Altria for the long-term and if I get assigned shares I’ll be ok with it. I had a couple of speculative calls expire with Teva for a loss of $261.45. However, I earned $449.10 on another 5 calls I bought and then sold on 09/12. Teva remains a large speculative position for me. I don’t see them going bankrupt but I do see shares under pressure until the new CEO can get things going again.

My V puts continue to do well. V is a wonderful company and I believe shares will continue to beat the market for a while. This is why I’ve sold 3 large deep in the money puts for a nice revenue stream. The first two puts would profit about $1500 if I closed them out today.

So what happens in the case that one of these companies is lower near expiration? Well, I have a few options.

a. I can do nothing and I’ll be required to purchase 100 shares of said security at the strike price. It’s sort of like I’m buying the company right now at a discount.

b. I can decide to purchase back the put for more money at a loss of approximately ($71/share – current share value) x 100.

c. Third option is to “roll” the put forward. What this means is that I simultaneously purchase the put back and sell another longer dated put so that I haven’t lost any money.

Well the good news is that I’m in the positive on these trades. This is in my speculative account but I still target mainly dividend paying companies that I want to own or already own anyways. Any profits will go directly into purchasing more shares of solid dividend-paying companies.

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Disclaimer

I am not a licensed financial professional. I created this site to be informative and entertaining. No purchases I make are recommendations to buy those particular equities. I'm not liable by any party for losses you might incur. All investments are subject to losing money and you should consult a financial professional before making any investment decisions.